Mat



Feb. 23, 1937. B NlcKLE 2,071,762

MAT

Filed Sept. l2, 1936 [NVE NTOR Patented Feb. 23, 1937 UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE MAT Burr Nickle, Butler, Pa.

Application September 12, 1936, Serial No. 100,420 S s U 1 Claim.

My invention relates to mats and is hereinafter described as of a form more y.particularly suitable for use upon the tops of gas stove ovens.

5 The ovens of modern cooking stoves are commonly formed of sheet metal which is enameled, and although it is usual to line the ovens with thermal insulation material, the enameled metal frequently becomes heated to several hundred l degrees, with the result that if a cool cooking vessel is set upon the top of the oven, there will be such thermal shock as to cause cracking of the enamel. Similarly, if the oven is cool, a

hot vessel placed thereon may cause cracking.

While mats of various kinds can be placed on the oven to prevent direct contact therewith by vessels set upon the oven, they prevent radiation of the heat from the enameled surface, with the result that the enamel may crack or gobecome discolored.

One object of my invention is to provide a mat of such form that it will prevent direct contact of cooking vessels or the like, with the oven tops, and will, nevertheless, provide for proper circulation or radiation of heated air from the oven top or from the bottom of a heated vessel placed thereon.

As shown in the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a plan view of my mat in its preferred t form; Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line II of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a view taken on the line III of Fig. l.

As shown in thedrawing, the mat is formed of molded material such as rubber, of a type which will not be injuriously affected by heat of even several hundred degrees temperature. 'I'he mat is of integral structure and embodies a peripheral rib 4 with which ribs 5 merge at their ends. The cooking vesselsor other arti- 40 cles, will be directly supported 'by the ribs 4 and 5.

Connecting the ribs 5, at their rear sides or bases, are series of cross-bars or ribs 6 which are formed integrally with the other ribs, but

which are of low height relativeto the ribs 4 and 5, and serve primarily as tie elements for holding theV large ribs 'properly in place. This arrangement of small ribs and ylarge ribs constitutesv an important feature of my invention,

5o since there is ample clearance between the ribs 6 and the bottom of a pot which is placed on the mat, with the result that there will be no en-4 trapped pockets of heated air, because air can radiate and circulate freely between the bottom of a vesseland the upper side of the ribs 6. The surface of the oven will therefore be of more uniform temperature throughout its area than if the ribs 6 .were of the same height as the ribs 5, or if an unperforated mat were employed.

It is further to be noted that by reason of the mesh-like or perforated form of theV mat, with .provision for circulation ofv air horizontally, the mat will not become so heated as to cause discoloration of the enameled oven surface, even though the mat be formed of sulphur-vulcanized rubber. A

Other advantages of employing the small connecting ribs are that the mat--is quite exible along lines parallel to the heavy ribs 5, so that there will be less tendency for it to warp out of shape, it will lie much more snugly in contact with either iiat or curved surfaces, and it can be rolled more readily,

The mat will, of course, be useful at places lother than upon an oven. For example, it can be used to support a cooking vessel after the vessel has been removed from the stove,v and in such case, the circulation of air across the entire bottom of the vessel will tend to cause more uniform and quicker cooling of the food which is in the vessel, instead of the mid-portion of the ve'sselremaining at a high temperature for a considerable time after the sides of the vessel have cooled. It has been found that the flavor and texture of a cooked food which has been cooled somewhat uniformly, is in many cases superior to food which has been cooled y 

